Introduction to Latina/o/x Studies and Immigration

Catalog description

This course begins with a key question: What does it mean to be Latina/o/x today? We consider the history of Latina/o/x people in the U.S. and the immigrant and settlement experiences of different communities, such as Mexicans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans, as well as the theories and debates around the formation and meaning of Latina/o/x identities. We then discuss the profound ways that Latina/o/x people have shaped the contemporary U.S., both in the Southwest (Arizona, Nevada, Texas, etc.) and beyond. We also analyze the challenges that an increasingly visible and diverse Latina/o/x presence poses for the ways that different people imagine and understand the identity of the U.S. We discuss the historical factors pushing and pulling people from Latin America and the Caribbean to migrate to the U.S. and the dynamics that shape “integration” especially for racially minoritized immigrants. Finally, we gain an appreciation of how immigration can both promote social mobility as well as introduces new forms of inequalities, especially for Latina women and other gendered and racialized minorities.